Canada's Wonderland

[CedarPointer]

I'm going up to CW next week- any suggestions on what to not miss and what to skip? Also, anyone have recommendations on where to eat in the park (I'm not leaving to eat, so I'm not looking for "There's a Wendy's down the road)?

[The Interpreter]

That's a Tim Horton's! .

Wonderland has excellent food, it's hard to go wrong. And except for Zamperla Flying Coasters (Time Warp), I'd not miss anything there.

[vortexfan]

Food is pretty standard stuff at most of the eateries. I hear the burgers at Coasters are good (made fresh by hand), but I haven't tried them myself.

There is a new "Gourmet Popcorn" place on I-Street selling popcorn with unusual flavors like honey mustard and barbeque, which could be interesting to try out if you're in a snacking mood.

The best bang for your buck for a larger meal would be Marketplace Buffet. There's a unlimited drinks and a good selection of food and desserts here for $20/person.

If you're a fan of Pizza, try any of the Pizza Pizza locations around the park. It's Ontario's own pizza restaurant chain. I think the I-Street location is the only one that has full-size pizzas in the park, but don't quote me on that.

I would avoid places like Thrillburger and Hot Potato. Slow service and not exactly worth the cost for the portion size.

Check out Wonderland's Facebook page for their "fan perks". They have some coupons that may be useful to you.

As for what not to miss - Behemoth, Skyrider, the woodies, Sledgehammer (if it is open), The Orbiter, Thunder Run, Vortex, Psyclone, Nightmares, Riptide, Drop Tower, Shockwave, and of course Starlight Spectacular. The park will be super busy, so if you're interested in getting the most done in the least amount of time, head over to Medieval Faire at rope-drop. Everyone else heads to Action Zone, so you'll have this section of the park practically to yourself in the morning. If you're short on time, you could skip Flight Deck and Time Warp. Your head will thank you later.

Other than that, enjoy your visit to the park!

[CedarPointer]

Thank you!

On another note, would anyone happen to know how an employee from another CF park gets in to CW? CW has been less than helpful on this...

[pkiboy]

Thank you!

On another note, would anyone happen to know how an employee from another CF park gets in to CW? CW has been less than helpful on this...

Joey there is a Wendys right across the street from the park!! walk up to any turnstyle ur Id should scan at the gate!! keep in mind there Metal Detecors are on Full Force! Have a Blast like Terp said ride Time warp its a unquie coaster and Slegehammer is a Epic Flat my fav flat at CW!! Behemoth is just like Diamondback but the ending is different it has a Giant Helix at the end! Ride Skyrider there stand up its just like King Corbra if u have ridden KC. Note Canadas Wonderland does not give out cups of water at there food stands its a Canadin Law yes i know your at a CF park but remember your in a different country there water tates different than hear in the States!! but the park has driking fountins!! HAVE A BLAST Canads Wonderland is one fo my Fav parks!!

[CedarPointer]

Ah. I remember having to do something weird at CP last year, so I was wondering.

I just discovered this: http://parkchef.typepad.com/park_chef/

Does KI even have an "executive chef"? Is it Chef Boyardee?

[SonofBaconator]

Felt like making this the primary CW thread (I've searched for others)

It occured to me that Canada's Wonderland only has one launched coaster in their lineup and its more of a family ride. I think they need a good Mack multi launch next since they already have a good top 3 and need some good intermediate coaster.

I wanted to say RMC Wild Beast or Minebuster but apparently Canada has a law where RMC cannot "build" there. I guess any type of construction has to be done by a Canadian based company and since RMC likes to erect their own coasters it creates a conflict. So if Canada's Wonderland wanted to convert either of their wooden coasters, RMC would have to design the ride and fabricate the steel but wouldn't be able to build it. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but that's what I've heard.

[DeltaFlyer]

15 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:

I wanted to say RMC Wild Beast or Minebuster but apparently Canada has a law where RMC cannot "build" there. I guess any type of construction has to be done by a Canadian based company and since RMC likes to erect their own coasters it creates a conflict. So if Canada's Wonderland wanted to convert either of their wooden coasters, RMC would have to design the ride and fabricate the steel but wouldn't be able to build it. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but that's what I've heard.

Seems like Martin & Vleminckx would be a good candidate to erect it: Based in Quebec and has lots of experience with wood construction.

[Honorarius]

I've heard that as well... I know first hand that Canadian Temporary Foreign Worker laws are a pain in the butt...

 

I'm can't validate how much truth the rumor holds, as I've just heard it 3rd hand, never anything official...

[teenageninja]

Canada is very protective it's workforce.  My former company bought a lot of equipment from Canada.  If you had a screwdriver in your car and you didn't have a work visa with you, they'd search your entire car at the border, it was insane.

[SonofBaconator]

I could also see them removing more coasters like other Cedar Fair parks.

They got rid of Skyrider but that was pretty obvious. I don't know much about the park and their maintenance costs, as I've never been there, but I haven't heard great things about their Flight Deck and Time Warp.

If RMC can't come in I say remove those two coasters in favor of a modern flyer, invert, wing, or something else that is smooth and reliable when the time comes

[DeltaFlyer]

3 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

I could also see them removing more coasters like other Cedar Fair parks.

They got rid of Skyrider but that was pretty obvious. I don't know much about the park and their maintenance costs, as I've never been there, but I haven't heard great things about their Flight Deck and Time Warp.

If RMC can't come in I say remove those two coasters in favor of a modern flyer, invert, wing, or something else that is smooth and reliable 

I found Flight Deck to be pretty rough even for an SLC.

Time Warp is a medieval torture device disguised as a roller coaster. 

[Rivertown Rider]

I really enjoy Wonderland but after their top 3 (Leviathan, Behemoth, and Yukon Striker) it goes down quickly.  The fourth best coaster in the park is probably Vortex (which is the exact same layout as our Top Gun/The Bat).  I like Minebuster more than most but aside from those all of the rest of the coasters are easily replaceable.  

I attended the Coasters 'Eh event there last year and they have no plans to get rid of Flight Deck (my worst coaster ever).  I could see Time Warp leaving though and a Mack Multi-Launch would go good in that area of the park.  An RMC or GCI would also be great in the park but they would have to work thru the builder issues mentioned a few posts above.

[SonofBaconator]

2 hours ago, Rivertown Rider said:

I attended the Coasters 'Eh event there last year and they have no plans to get rid of Flight Deck

I find that strange considering how much Cedar Fair wants to update that park. I agree after their top 3, their line-up really struggles where as parks like KI and CP thrive. Considering they're about 100% developed, removing coasters seems like their only option to add new ones unless they find a way around the RMC thing. 

Do they own that lake next to Behemoth? If so why not build over that?

[Honorarius]

Yes, they own the lake next to Behemoth...

 

And I think the keeping of Flight Deck and Time Warp is that with a big addition in 2019, they wont be putting anything major in for a while, so might as well get some use of the two coasters they have sitting there... They ripped out Skyrider in 2014 for the plot to sit empty until Yukon Striker got built, why repeat that???

 

Also, dont forget that the majority of guests through the turnstiles don't know those rides are crap, as they haven't experienced better... I mean for like a 13 year period FlightDeck/Top Gun was their marquee coaster...

[Rivertown Rider]

7 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

I find that strange considering how much Cedar Fair wants to update that park. I agree after their top 3, their line-up really struggles where as parks like KI and CP thrive. Considering they're about 100% developed, removing coasters seems like their only option to add new ones unless they find a way around the RMC thing. 

Do they own that lake next to Behemoth? If so why not build over that?

Yeah basically the gist of what was said is we don't remove rides just because enthusiasts don't like them.

Wonderland is relatively land locked so I think when they are ready to build another coaster that is when something will get removed.  Being how busy that park gets, they do need to try to add something with good capacity.

[SonofBaconator]

I'm not saying remove them now, but if they want to build a new, high capacity, coaster down the road they might have to sacrifice some rides to do so. If they decide to not sacrifice a coaster , they'd either have to build over the lake or get creative with its placement. 

I saw somewhere that someone had the idea to build in the back of the park over their White Water Canyon. I haven't been there so I don't know how they like to do things but it seems like all their thrill rides are closer to the middle or front of the park. I don't know if they want to keep the back solely dedicated to the kids section or not.

[Honorarius]

There's still some space behind Splash Works, some room in/over WWC, and an area between Wilde Beast and Planet Snoopy that wraps around with the area where Dinosaurs Alive used to be. 

Also, if you scrap the Go-Kart track, there's some empty space around there that can be packaged in with it.

And it's not like they need a huge ton of room for the next addition. Likely looking something in the 3000 ft long range?

With how they built Leviathan right over Dragon Fyre, and Yukon Striker literally right through Vortex and then out between Timberwolf Falls and the nearby path, I think they've shown their willing to get creative to get things in there.

[amapan]

I learned that Canada’s Wonderland opened the day I was born. Since we have the same “birthday” I’m thinking of celebrating my 40th there with them. Maybe they’ll give me an ice cream or something?

[Honorarius]

No blue ice cream though

[amapan]

Do they serve Moose Tracks at Wonderland? That seems like an appropriate ice cream selection for that park.  

[Honorarius]

Dipping Dots does have a Moose Tracks flavour, but I'm unsure if they sell that particular one at the Wonderland...

 

[SonofBaconator]

This park had always been labelled as the one that doesn't have a lot of good supporting coasters. There's always enthusiasts who think coasters like Flight Deck, Time Warp, Dragon Fire, Minebuster, and Wild Beast should be removed. I know there's a Canadian law that prevents companies from other countries to come in and do work (keeping jobs in Canada eh) so GCI and RMC couldn't come in and work on their woodies- @MisterSG1 is that correct? 

I think a launched coaster over their White Water Canyon would be nice. If they wanted to continue their trend of adding B&Ms they could get a wing. Heck they could kill two birds with one stone and get a launched wing like Thunderbird. If not they could always go for a Mack.

[MisterSG1]

On 8/23/2020 at 10:58 AM, SonofBaconator said:

I know there's a Canadian law that prevents companies from other countries to come in and do work (keeping jobs in Canada eh) so GCI and RMC couldn't come in and work on their woodies- @MisterSG1 is that correct?

When did I say that? If I mentioned any kind of law, I’m referring to the COVID-19 situation in which basically all non essential travel into Canada is forbidden for all non Canadians.

In normal times, I don’t think this would be much of a problem. 

[SonofBaconator]

56 minutes ago, MisterSG1 said:

When did I say that? If I mentioned any kind of law, I’m referring to the COVID-19 situation in which basically all non essential travel into Canada is forbidden for all non Canadians.

In normal times, I don’t think this would be much of a problem. 

I don't think you ever said anything, I was just asking if I was correct or not 

I've heard from youtubers that there was a Canadian law that prevents companies from other countries to work. For example, RMC likes to build their own rides but if Canada's Wonderland ever wanted to convert Minebuster or Wild Beast, they'd have to hire a Canadian construction company to physically build the ride- RMC could only design manufacturer the track. But that's what I've come to understand, I don't know if that's 100% accurate.

[Honorarius]

Technically correct...  But loopholes/exemptions do exist... How easy/hard to get, I am unsure... Maybe it's darn hard, maybe it's just a matter of filing the right paperwork and explaining "we wanna buy this and we can't get it here"...

The law exists (on both sides of the border) to protect local jobs... If you live in Detroit, you can't hire a carpenter from Windsor to build your new deck just because he's cheaper and vice versa... 

It's why the border agent asks "Purpose of your visit"... If you say 'work' they're going to have a lot more questions and need to see some paperwork...

[MisterSG1]

Well, renovating a ride, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that much the same kind of thing as building a new ride?

I don’t know much about RMC, but I believe when it comes to redesigning the ride, that can easily happen. A Canadian construction company would have to do the actual work in constructing the ride. I mean RMC has renovated rides in other countries haven’t they? 
 

I could be wrong, but as it stands, except for some water slides in Splash Works or Triotech’s involvement with Wonder Mountain Guardian, there is not one Canadian ride manufacturer in Canada’s Wonderland.

That being said, I’m sure if RMC wanted to renovate a ride, I don’t see there being any problem.

[Honorarius]

Manufacturer is not the same as Installer...

To the government there is a very large difference between buying a coaster elsewhere, importing it, and having it installed by Canadians, and bringing foreign workers in to the country to build it...

And the crux of the issue is that (apparently) RMC wants to do the install... For the record, I have no idea how true this is...